Just Dropping In
by SniperCT
Summary: Sometimes your luck runs out. Sometimes you just get lucky. And sometimes luck means you land in a hot pink chick's lap and you can't take your eyes off of her. Or the AU where Domino works for an unspecified agency and Clarice is a theater actress.
1. Soft Landings

The first rule of any job was to expect that job to not at all go according to plan. Neena Thurman, aka Domino, lived hard and fast by that rule, and she'd gotten pretty good at changing the plan on the run. Today was a prime example of 'time for plan M.'

She'd been working this group for month, had even gotten them to trust her. They weren't the kind of people you brought home for the holidays, and it was probably a good idea to sleep with one eye open but…

There wasn't actually a but. These were _really_ horrible people and Neena would be glad when this job was over and she could toss all their sorry asses behind bars where they belonged. Although, looking at her current situation the job was pretty much over and her cover was pretty much blown. Hence Plan M.

Jumping out of a window with no idea what waited on the ground below wasn't the best plan she'd ever concocted, but it also wasn't the _worse_ plan ever. There were at least seven she could recall that were much, much worse than this. Luck was usually on her side, so she wasn't too worried.

She twisted through the air, righting herself and prepared for a rough landing, only to hit something too soon. She rolled down the whatever-it-was and landed on top of something soft and squishy. That something soft made a loud noise of protest and uttered some choice curse words. When Neena looked up she looked into the most beautiful glowing green eyes she'd ever seen and her heart was suddenly in her throat.

Her landing pad had turned out to be a Chinese woman with pink skin and green markings at strategically cute locations on her face. Neena gave her a wicked smile and asked, "Are you okay, lady?"

"Am I…" The woman stared at her. "I wasn't the one that just fell out of a three-story window. Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine, just lucky I guess." Nothing was broken, maybe a few bruises and some cuts from the broken window. Her hair was a mess.

So, the usual.

"Good." She shoved Neena off of her, which was honestly just about the only way that Neena would have been able to take her eyes off of the woman.

Rolling smoothly to her feet, Neena held out her hand to help her up. "I'm Neena. Sorry to drop in and run, but I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Clarice," She said, the touch of their hands lingering.

"Clarice." Neena's grin widened, and then she spotted something behind Clarice. "Shit!" She pulled her aside bullets ripped through the air where they'd both just been, and pulled out her own pistol to return fire. Clarice's hand wrapped around her wrist and what Neena could only describe as a pink _hole_ in the air formed behind them.

"Okay look, we just met and I don't usually go into strange holes in reality of space-time with beautiful women I just met." Neena glanced back at her pursuers. " _And_ they have an RPG. Into the hole!"

Clarice's day wasn't going very well. Late for rehearsal and she'd flubbed half her lines, and then their MacDuff had nearly twisted his ankle. She wondered if the Scottish curse was at play, and if so, just who'd said the play's name so she could strangle them.

"At least it can't get worse," she mused, only for something to land on her from above. When she'd regained her senses, she realized that something was a person. A woman in flattering black leather, with skin that was literally as white as a sheet of paper. There was a black spot tattooed over her left eye and her eyes were a stunningly gorgeous blue.

When they got _shot_ at, Clarice made a split second decision. Even if Neena hadn't decided to follow her, she would have pulled her through anyway. When it came to her portals, Clarice was pretty good at finding a good destination, but she was in a hurry and she realized her mistake the instant they were on the other side and falling towards the ground.

Instead of splattering across the pavement, they hit a pile of old mattresses. Clarice laid there for a moment in disbelieve. "What the hell kind of luck?"

Neena sat up, brushing herself off. "I've always been pretty good at making my own luck."

Trying to ignore how dirty the mattresses were, Neena scrambled down the pile. It was hard to get her bearings, and she didn't recognize the streets or any of the buildings near the alleyway they'd landed in. The signage was in English which didn't really help her any. "You coming or are you going to lay there all day?"

"Could you maybe tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Something went bad," Neena said, and didn't clarify as she started walking down the alleyway.

"They had an RPG, I'd call that pretty bad," Clarice said, falling into step besides her. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"What do you do, Clarice?" Neena stopped where the alley met the street and cautiously peeked out.

"I'm an actress. Plays, mostly Shakespeare."

"...Really?" Neena glanced back at her. "So what, a pink Lady Macbeth?"

"Yes, actually. Today's rehearsals were awful though."

"That's gotta put butts in the seats." Neena resumed studying the street, and trying to place the skyline.

"So are you a cop?" It was a reasonable question, though Clarice was half expecting the opposite answer. Cops didn't typically wear skin tight leather. Not that she was complaining.

"I actually _was_ undercover, but not for the police. But it's kind of complicated and we don't really have time…" Neena trailed off as she realized where they were. "Did you teleport us to Vegas?"

"I think so."

"But that's… across the country. How far do your powers reach?"

Clarice smiled. "Lets just say I never have to pay for plane tickets when I visit my parents in Hong Kong."

"No shit?" Neena stared at her. "So if you wanted Mexican food, like actual legit Mexican, you could just step through a portal?"

"Yep." Clarice brushed some hair out of her face. "There's this little stand in Mexico City I always like to go to. They know my order by heart now."

"Why don't I buy you lunch sometime? I owe you for saving my ass anyway, and for dragging you into this mess." Neena pulled the zipper of her catsuit down and fanned herself. "Hell, since we're in Vegas, there are a dozen places with amazing food, I could buy you something now. I've worked up a hell of an appetite."

"Okay," Clarice found herself staring. She'd gotten into theater for a girl and found she'd loved it. So she was going to get herself involved in whatever this was.

It was bound to be more exciting than flubbing her lines. "Whatever you want."


	2. Getting Lucky

For the record, Neena _hated_ spring. It was by far the worse season. There were the allergies and the trees and the _bugs_ and while she could usually focus her way through it, tonight was absolutely not one of those nights.

Tonight was worse than any of her missions. Worse than that time she'd fallen out of a plane to land on a speeding roller coaster car only for it to land safely.

But it had landed safely in a _chicken coop_ so as far as Neena was concerned that made it the worst mission she'd ever been on. Even worse than the time in the _sewers_.

But this? This was even worse. Because tonight, Neena had a _date_. With a beautiful woman who was bright pink and could probably teleport her to the moon if she was late.

"Dom."

She looked up at the gruff voice, and rolled her eyes, "Shut it, Logan."

"It's gonna be fine, it's just a fucking date."

"Yeah sure, _just_ a date. I'd rather get shot at. Wait, didn't you get shot at on your last date?"

He took a sip from his beer and snorted, "I got shot _by_ my last date."

"So yeah, that's our lives." Neena turned to look at herself in the mirror again. She'd chosen a black that kind of shimmered, as that color complimented her the best. Most important was the plunging v-line neck and the guns she'd strapped to inconspicuous places. There were at least six.

She was almost to the door when Logan called out, "Hey Dommy, one last thing."

"What?"

"For the love of god get laid, you're driving the rest of us nuts."

She left him with a vulgar gesture and his laugh ringing in her ears.

He wasn't wrong. She hadn't actually gotten laid in months. Between missions and then meeting Clarice, she just hadn't had the time. And then at some point she'd realized she wasn't going after any of her usual partners or types. Because she'd wanted Clarice.

The thought made her pull over, and she considered turning around and going right home. Neena didn't _do_ emotional entanglements. She didn't like there being strings, or so she kept telling herself since half the time it ended up happening anyway. But it was never strings with, say, Logan. He was super cool except that one time where there were the strings _fuck shit damn_ okay no we're fine everything is fine.

She sighed, barely noticing as a truck careened out of control. It would have hit her if she hadn't pulled over. "Well, _this_ will end in disaster. Lucky me."

The fireball faded in her mirror as she continued on.

Clarice fretted, staring at her phone. Neena wasn't _that_ late, but she sometimes got the impression that when it came to dating and emotional things Neena could be flighty. She was certain it wasn't just the job, either, but Neena had been frustratingly difficult to get personal information out of. She talked a whole lot, but was always careful to avoid letting Clarice in too far.

And yet, Clarice had gotten in a little deeper than she'd expected. It had taken a little alcohol, a three-alarm fire and a bar fight, but Neena had opened up. Opened up enough to share a few secrets. Open up enough to actually be the one to ask Clarice on an honest to god date. And then take a picture of her shocked-face.

Neena rarely took anything seriously and the day she did was probably going to be the day that Clarice would genuinely fear for one or both of their lives.

She could sense eyes on her, in the dress she'd picked out. Finding colors that complimented her mutant skin-tone had never been easy, but she liked to think that the right kind of green had worked. It left her back exposed, the front like a wrap that went around the back of her neck. In the reflection of her phone's screen, she saw Neena standing stiffly behind her. Her shoulders relaxed, and she leaned back, tilting her head over the back of her chair, "And here I thought you'd been called away on some top secret mission."

"Damn, that would have been the perfect excuse." Neena approached the table, moving around to the other side. The dress she wore took Clarice's breath away. When she looked at Clarice, her eyes darted up and down. While there was nervousness on her face, there was also heat in her eyes.

Clarice picked up her water and downed the entire thing, before setting the glass back down. "Second thoughts?"

"Not anymore." Neena sat down, tapataptapping her fingers on the table for a moment in nervous energy as she ordered. Once that was settled,she said, "Is it hot in here or is it just us?"

Grinning, Clarice leaned her chin on her hand, "I think it's just us."

Neena pretended to fan herself, then finished her glass of water even faster than Clarice had. "Okay. Look. I'm not good at this… this dating thing. This whole…" She waved her hands in a circle as if to encompass the two of them, "Complicated emotional bullshit."

She held up her finger before Clarice could speak. "But… I was really lucky that day I met you."

"You're lucky every day."

" _I'm trying to be romantic here, give a girl a break_."

"Every day that you know me," Clarice finished with a grin.

"Really?" Neena gave Clarice a 'are you serious' type of hand movement, "That was my line. You stole my fucking line. Damn, that was a good line."

"You were being romantic," Clarice prompted.

Before Neena could continue, they were interrupted by the waiter, "I'm sorry to intrude, but we've run out of some of the ingredients for your order. Would you like a complimentary upgrade to the lobster?"

"That's perfect, thanks Jeeves." Neena seemed to be enjoying the fishmouth that had afflicted Clarice, and took advantage of it. "What I'm trying to say is that I _really_ like you. We've bled together and not in the shark week way. You didn't judge me. And you read me that sonnet that one time and honestly I'm getting emotional just thinking about it."

Neena placed a hand on her chest dramatically, but she did mean it. "What do all the kids call it these days?"

"Going steady."

"Yeah, that thing." Neena waved her hand.

Clarice wished she'd ordered wine.

"Complimentary wine."

She watched as the waiter poured them some wine, then squinted at Neena, "I'll never understand how your powers work."

"I'm just glad it's a good day. You don't want to be around when my luck turns bad."

"What if I want to be?"

Neena looked like she hadn't expected that answer, "Clarice, it can go really, really bad."

"You do know that when you're girlfriends with someone you stick when them though the bad times too, right?"

Neena was in the middle of taking a drink, and she snorted so hard wine went up her nose, "My last serious relationship was with this time traveling _asshole_ who could never remember _dates_. You're a time traveler you fuckwit just go back to the anniversary!"

This time, Clarice was the one that had wine go up her nose. She groaned and reached for a napkin. " _Time_ travel?"

Darting her eyes, Neena replied, "Moving on."

"What agency do you even work for?"

Leveling a look at Clarice, Neena replied, "If I told you that I'd have to kill you."

The scary thing was that Clarice couldn't actually tell if she was serious or not, even with the wolfish grin that followed.

"Maybe some day. If I had to deputize you or something, but I really don't want to have to do that." She reached over, hesitating before putting her hand over Clarice's, "I'm not gonna lie about the kind of work I do. What I do isn't clean, but it is necessary. So that people like you get to spout sonnets at me."

"You told me what you were doing the day we met," Clarice pointed out. "Is that different because the case was over?"

Nodding, Neena said, "Yeah, and it wasn't the kind of case that was filled with state secrets. Just a good old fashioned undercover bust. Which is really the best kind."

Clarice was silent for a moment, so Neena added, "Can you live with that? That I can't always tell you what I'm doing or where I'm going? Or even when I'll be back?"

A part of Clarice was jealous. What Neena did sounded exciting. She didn't know if she could go as far as necessary, as exciting as it sounded when Neena _did_ talk about it. But, she liked her. She liked her a lot and it wouldn't take much for those feelings to go further. So she held up three fingers. "Three conditions."

Neena knocked back the rest of her wine and gestured for Clarice to go on.

"One. You tell me _everything_ you can. Let me be a sounding board, let me listen. I remember the bar, okay? I know there's a lot percolating inside your head that really should come out. Just… tell me what you can. I'll listen, and I'll patch you up."

"That's… fair," Neena allowed. "After all I have to listen to you rehearse."

Clarice flicked a rolled up straw wrapper at Neena. It missed, disappeared in a flash of pink and plonked her in the back of the head. "Two. Get me a burner phone. Set up a code word, whatever, just if it gets bad. If you need a way out, I can come."

"Clarice I can't-"

"No! I don't want some guys in black suits to show up at my door and tell me you're dead, not if there's even one thing I can do."

"It's more likely to be a Canadian in a cowboy hat but I get the point." Neena sat back in her chair, studying Clarice, face impassive except for her usual lazy smile, but there was conflict in her eyes.

"Please," Clarice said. "I don't even have to _go_ , I can open a portal right in front of you."

"Okay. But make sure there's no one in front of it as there's a good chance a bullet or ten will come through with me and my luck doesn't usually extend to other people."

Clarice relaxed, sagging in her chair. "Okay. Okay."

" So what's the third thing?"

A smile crossed Clarice's face, "If you want to _get lucky_ , you don't really need to have your foot so far up my thigh."

Neena barked a laugh, "Where's the fun in _that_?"


End file.
